Live storage equipment



g- 1964 s. L. SAMUELS ETAL 3,145,846

LIVE STORAGE EQUIPMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 16, 1962 FIG. 1

Fl G. 2

u E U M A s L m w m 5 CHARLES K. HARM NGTON INVENTORS BY MJM,

ATTORNEY 1964 s. SAMUELS ETAL 3,145,846

LIVE STORAGE EQUIPMENT Filed Jan. 16, 1962 3 Sheets-Shet 2 STANLEY L. SAMUELS CHARLES K. HARNNGTON INVENTORS ATTORNEY 1964 s. L. SAMUELS ETAL 3,145,846

LIVE STORAGE EQUIPMENT Filed Jan. 16, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 6 STANLEY L. SAMUELS CHARLES K. HARRINGTON IN V EN TORS ATTORNEY United States Patent Filed Jan. 16, 1962, Ser. No. 166,651 Claims. (Cl. 211-49) This invention relates to racks, supports and the like for use in "live storage of articles; i.e. storage wherein the articles move by gravity along an inclined channel toward the front of a stand or to a delivery point. The invention is directed particularly to constructions which may be formed of wire and are adapted for use in the storage, delivery .or handling of relatively flat articles or packages such as those containing hosiery, lingerie, ties, shirts, or other textile, leather, or paper products.

Equipment employed in the live storage of articles has been widely used in warehouses and elsewhere and frequently is of the type shown and described in the patent to Shield No. 2,443,871. However, such live storage equipment is designed primarily to receive and deliver articles arranged in a single layer on each shelf of the equipment. It is not well-suited for the storage or handling of flat, light weight articles or packages because of the great number of shelves which would be required. On the other hand, live storage has not been extensively utilized heretofore when the articles are stacked one upon another .on an inclined shelf for the reason that only the lowermost article in a stack is held in place as the stack moves forward in a channel. The upper articles in the stack then tend to spill forward out of the storage equipment.

In accordance with the present invention these objections and limitations of the prior art are overcome and means are provided which are simple and economical to produce and use and which are especially adapted for use in the live storage of relatively thin fiat items that can be conveniently arranged in stacked relation on a shelf, rack or support.

These results are preferably attained by providing equipment which may be formed of wire and which may be fabricated in units or sections capable of being connected together to produce an assembly .of any desired height, width or capacity. The units or sections of the assembly are separable so that they may be combined to provide channels of any desired width. Moreover, vertically extending stop means are provided at one side of each channel to hold articles in place therein when arranged in stacked relation. However, the stop means are constructed and arranged so that the articles can be moved transversely of the channel to permit quick and easy removal thereof.

A further characteristic feature of the present invention resides in the fact that the units or sections of the assembly may be hung or suspended from a framework or from upper units of the assembly whereby the units can be arranged in position and securely held in place without employing any bolts, screws, welding or other fastening means or operations.

Accordingly, the principal object of the present invention is to provide novel means for the live storage of articles which permit a plurality of layers of articles to be supported on each shelf or rack in an assembly.

Another .object of the invention is to provide units for use in the erection of live storage assemblies wherein the units may be formed of wire or other relatively inexpensive material.

A further object of the invention is to provide a live storage construction embodying a plurality of units or sections adapted to be hung or suspended from a framework or other support.

An additional object of the invention is to provide means in the form of a rack or support for articles which is located in an inclined position for live storage of the articles and provided with a vertically extending stop means at the front end of the rack or support so that a stack of relatively flat articles may be maintained on the rack or support and will move forward thereon to the lower end .or delivery point of the assembly without permitting articles in upper layers on the rack or support to spill out from the assembly although they may be readily and easily removed therefrom when desired.

These and other objects and features of the present invention will appear from the following description thereof wherein reference is made to the figures of the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a typical assembly embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the construction illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of a portion of the construction illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of the construction as shown in FIG. 3 taken .on the line 4-4 thereof;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the construction shown in FIG. 3 taken on the line 55 thereof; and

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a typical form of bottom or supporting member embodied in the construction shown in FIG. 3.

In that form .of the invention chosen for purposes of illustration in the drawings, the assembly is provided with a framework including vertically extending or upright members 2, 4, and 6 which are held in suitably spaced relation by a lower or floor member 8. The front upright frame member 2 is shorter than the upright members 4 and 6 and an upper frame member 10 is secured to the upper ends thereof so as to be located in an inclined position sloping downwardly from the rear toward the front of the framework. Transversely extending members 12 are arranged at suitably spaced intervals lengthwise of the member 10. The members 12 employed may be channel members as shown or they may be angle irons or simple straps provided with rearwardly facing transversely extending horizontal flanges 14 engageable by the forwardly extending, hook-shaped upper ends 16 of vertically extending elements 18 of the uppermost units 20 in the assembly as shown in FIG. 3.

Each unit in the assembly is preferably made up of two vertically extending side members 22 and 24 to which one or more bottom or supporting elements 32 may be applied. In this way, each unit of the assembly may embody one or a plurality of inclined article receiving channels 25. Furthermore, the vertically extending side member 22 of each unit may be considered to be an intermediate side member since it carries a vertically extending stop means 40 and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5 is designed to serve as a common side wall between two adjacent units in the assembly. On the other hand, the vertically extending side member 24 of each unit may be considered as outer side members since they may serve as the outer sides of those units positioned at the opposite ends of the assembly as shown in FIG. 2. Nevertheless, the outer vertical side members 24 may, and frequently do, serve as a common side wall between two adjacent channels 25 as shown at 24' in FIG. 2.

Each of the side members 22 and 24 preferably is formed as shown in FIGS. 3 to 6 of the drawings so as to have a plurality of vertically extending elements 18 which may be made of wire or rod-like material which is square in cross section. Wires 26 are then secured to the vertically extending elements 18 on opposite sides thereof and in parallel inclined positions extending from the rear to the front of the unit. In this way, the wires 26 and the opposite faces of the vertically extending members 22 and 24 present smooth surfaces for guiding and directing the articles 50 in their movement through the channels 25 from the. rear to the-front of the stand. Moreover, as shown inFIGS. 3 and 4, the lowermost extremities 28 of the vertically extending elements 18 of the side members 22 and 24 are turned rearwardly and upwardly directly below the lowermost wires 26 at the opposite sides of the vertical elements 18. The lowermost wires 26 and the extremities 28, therefore, cooperate to provide recesses for receiving and holding the upper forwardly extending ends 16 of the vertical elements of a lower unit or section. Thus, the unit 30 may be suspended from the unit 20 above and other units may be hung onto and suspended below the unit 30 to fill the entire framework with units or sections of the desired size, shape and capacity. The units are, therefore, capable of being assembled and disassembled and arranged, rearranged or interchanged very easily and quickly as required in any particular installation.

The bottom or supporting element 32 of the units 20, 30, etc. alsomay be formed of wire and as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 may consist of longitudinally extending wires or rods 34 upon which the articles to be delivered are supported. The rods 34 are held in predetermined spaced relation by transversely extending wires 36 provided with downwardly turned or hook-shaped ends 38 engageable with selected wires 26 of the side members 22 and 24 of the units. Thus, two, three or more of the bottom members or supports 32 may be assembled with the side members 22 and 24 in vertically spaced relation to provide a number of superimposed channels 25 in any unit. As a result, several different stacks of articles can be arranged in each or any unit of the assembly and held in inclined position for movement forward from the rear to the front of the assembly. The rods 34 or other upwardly facing article supporting surface of the bottom members and if desired the parallel wires 26 of the vertical side members 22 and 24 may be covered with nylon, high density polyethylene, Teflon or other anti-friction material so that articles placed on the bottom members or supporting elements 32 will move forward readily under the action of gravity toward the lower front end of the unit.

The articles thus supported for live storage in each unit would, of course, slide forward out of the unit were it not for stop means located adjacent the lower front ends of the channels in the unit. Moreover, the articles would slide forward out of the upper channels in the unit if the usual lower horizontally extending type of stop means were employed. Therefore, the intermediate side member 22 of each unit is preferably provided with a vertically extending stop member 40 which projects laterally beyond the side forming wires 26 of the side member to serve as a stop member for each of the channels 25 in each of two adjacent units in the assembly. As shown in FIGS. 2, and 6, the stop member 40 is in the form of a vertically extending loop of wire which is carried by vertically spaced inclined attaching wires 42 which extend rearwardly from the vertical stop member 40 so as to engage one or a plurality of vertically extending elements 18 of the side member 22. In this way, the vertical stop member 40 is positioned in alignment with one side only of each of two adjacent units and is spaced a substantial distance in front of the foremost vertically extending element 13 of the side portion 24 of the unit. The distance which the vertical stop member 40 is spaced from the foremost vertically extending element 18 of side portion 24 may be varied depending upon the size of the articles or packages to be handled in the equipment, and the rods 34 of the bottom or supporting elements 32 may extend beyond the foremost vertical elements 18 to support articles engaging the vertical stop member 40.

When the articles in storage as shown in FIG. 5 are moved forward by gravity and positioned as shown in full lines in the drawings, they are available for ready removal from the equipment whenever desired. Thus, the front or projecting ends of the packages stacked on the bottom member 32 of any channel 25 in the assembly will be in engagement with the vertical stop member 40 located at one side of the channel. However, since there is no vertical stop member on the side member 24 at the opposite side of the channel and the stop member 40 is spaced some distance forwardly from the front end of side member 24 of the channel, the front ends of the packages 5i, can be moved sideways to the dotted line position indicated at 52 in FIGS. 5 and 6 to disengage the vertical stop member 40. The packages 52 then can be withdrawn forwardly from the channels while other packages in the unit will move forward by gravity until they engage the vertical stop member 40. The packages, therefore, are continuously supplied and presented in a convenient position for removal; although, they may be stacked one upon another to substantially fill each channel in the assembly.

The construction described embodies only a limited number of elements or members each of which is capable of being produced very economically. They may be assembled quickly and easily and in various arrangements to provide for live storage and handling of a great variety of articles of different sizes and shapes and to vary the capacity of the equipment as required in any installation. The spacing of the side members 22 and 24 of the units of the assembly can be varied as required to receive articles of any desired width by using bottom or supporting elements 32 of suificient width to form one or more channels for the articles while at the same time assuring movement of the articles toward the lower ends of the channels and into engagement with the vertical stop means 46. Ordinarily, the angle of inclination of the bottom elements 32 along which the articles move is about 20 degrees from the horizontal, but this angle also can be changed or the side members 22 and 24 of the units can be fabricated to correspond to any desired pitch or angle of inclination.

While the form of the invention shown in the drawings and described above embodies units or sections formed of wire, it will be apparent that either the side members 22 and 24 or the bottom element or both may be formed of sheet material, plastic, plywood, metal or the like; and they may be connected together in any suitable or preferred manner to attain the advantages of the present invention.

In View thereof, it should be understood that the particular embodiment of the invention herein described and shown is intended to be illustrative only and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. Equipment for the live storage of articles comprising a framework having supporting elements, a unit suspended from said supporting elements and embodying horizontally spaced substantially vertical side members, an inclined bottom element cooperating with said side members to define a channel for articles to be stored which is inclined downwardly from the rear to the front of the equipment, and stop means extending vertically adjacent one side only of said channel and in front of the lower end of the channel throughout substantially the full height of the channel.

2. Equipment for the live storage of articles comprising a framework having supporting elements, a unit suspended from said supporting elements and embodying two horizontally spaced substantially vertical side members, an inclined bottom element cooperating with said side members to define an inclined channel for articles to be stored, and stop means carried by one of said side members and extending vertically adjacent one side of said channel at the lower end thereof, said stop means being spaced a substantial distance in front of the other side member of the unit adjacent the lower end of said channel.

3. A unit for use in the live storage of articles comprising two spaced vertical side members each embodying a plurality of vertically extending elements with a plurality of parallel wires secured to the opposite sides thereof and inclined with respect to said vertical elements, said wires extending from the rear toward the front of the unit, and a bottom element supported by said side members and extending from the rear to the front thereof in an inclined position parallel to said wires, said bottom element having means at opposite sides thereof extending downwardly between the parallel wires secured to the opposite sides of said vertically extending elements for holding the bottom element in position and for holding said side members in spaced relation.

4. A unit for use in the live storage of articles comprising two spaced parallel side members each emboding a plurality of vertically extending elements with a plurality of parallel wires secured to the opposite sides thereof and inclined with respect to said vertical elements, said wires extending from the rear toward the front of the unit, a bottom element supported by said side members and extending from the rear to the front thereof in an inclined position parallel to said wires, means at the upper ends of said vertically extending elements for suspending the unit from a framework, means at the lower ends of said vertically extending elements for suspending another similar unit therefrom, and means on the opposite sides of said bottom element positioned to extend between parallel wires on said side members of the unit for holding said side members in spaced relation and for holding said bottom element in selected vertical positions with respect to the side members.

5. A unit for use in the live storage of articles embodying two vertically spaced side members each including vertically extending elements formed at their upper ends with forwardly facing hooks engageable with a framework, and formed at their lower ends with rearwardly facing hooks engagable with the forwardly facing hooks of a similar unit to suspend the same therefrom.

6. A unit for use in the live storage of articles embodying two vertically spaced side members each including vertically extending elements formed at their upper ends with forwardly facing hooks engagable with a framework, and formed at their lower ends with rearwardly facing hooks engagable with the forwardly facing hooks of a similar unit to suspend the same therefrom, parallel wires extending from the rear to the front of said side members on opposite sides of said vertically extending elements and inclined with respect to the vertically extending elements, and at least one bottom member extending between said side members and arranged to define a channel in said unit inclined from the rear toward the front thereof parallel to said wires.

7. A unit for use in the live storage of articles embodying two vertically spaced side members each including vertically extending elements formed at their upper ends with forwardly facing hooks engagable with a framework, and formed at their lower ends with rearwardly facing hooks engagable with the forwardly facing hooks of a similar unit to suspend the same therefrom, parallel wires extending from the rear to the front of said side members on opposite sides of said vertically extending elements, at least one bottom member extending between said side members and arranged to define a channel in said unit inclined from rear toward the front thereof, said bottom member extending forward from said channel beyond the foremost vertically extending element in said side members, and vertically extending stop means at one side of said unit adjacent the forward end of said bottom member.

8. A side member for use in forming a unit in a live storage device, said side member comprising vertically extending elements with hook shaped forwardly turned upper ends for suspending said side member from a support, the lower ends of said vertically extending elements being turned rearwardly, and means on the opposite sides of said vertically extending elements adjacent the rearwardly turned lower ends thereof cooperating with said rearwardly turned lower ends to form recesses for receiving the forwardly turned upper ends of another similar side member to suspend the same therefrom.

9. Equipment for the live storage of articles comprising two laterally adjacent units each of which units embodies at least one article receiving channel which is inclined downwardly from the rear toward the front of the equipment, each of said units including an outer vertically extending side member, an intermediate vertically extending side member located between and forming a common side wall of the channels in said two adjacent units, and a bottom element supported in an inclined position between said side members, said intermediate side member having a vertically extending stop means carried thereby and projecting laterally therefrom adjacent one side of the lower ends of the inclined channels in said two adjacent units.

10. Equipment for the live storage of articles comprising two laterally adjacent units each of which units embodies at least one article receiving channel which is inclined downwardly from the rear toward the front of the equipment, each of said units including an outer vertically extending side member, an intermediate vertically ex tending side member located between and forming a common side wall of the channels in said two adjacent units, and a bottom element supported in an inclined position between said side members, said intermediate side member having a vertically extending stop means carried thereby and projecting laterally therefrom adjacent the lower ends of the inclined channels in said two adjacent units, the vertically extending stop means being spaced a sufficient distance from the lower front edges of said outer vertical side members to permit articles in said channels to be moved sideways to disengage the vertical stop means for removal of articles from the channels, said bottom elements extending forward beyond the lower front edges of the outer vertical side members to support articles engaging the vertical stop means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 293,894 Loomis Feb. 19, 1884 2,443,871 Shield June 22, 1948 2,905,330 Lilja Sept. 22, 1959 3,042,220 Jakobsson July 3, 1962 

7. A UNIT FOR USE IN THE LIVE STORAGE OF ARTICLES EMBODYING TWO VERTICALLY SPACED SIDE MEMBERS EACH INCLUDING VERTICALLY EXTENDING ELEMENTS FORMED AT THEIR UPPER ENDS WITH FORWARDLY FACING HOOKS ENGAGABLE WITH A FRAMEWORK, AND FORMED AT THEIR LOWER ENDS WITH REARWARDLY FACING HOOKS ENGAGABLE WITH THE FORWARDLY FACING HOOKS OF A SIMILAR UNIT TO SUSPEND THE SAME THEREFROM, PARALLEL WIRES EXTENDING FROM THE REAR TO THE FRONT OF SAID SIDE MEMBERS ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID VERTICALLY EXTENDING ELEMENTS, AT LEAST ONE BOTTOM MEMBER EXTENDING BETWEEN SAID SIDE MEMBERS AND ARRANGED TO DEFINE A CHANNEL IN SAID UNIT INCLINED FROM REAR TOWARD THE FRONT THEREOF, SAID BOTTOM MEMBER EXTENDING FORWARD FROM SAID CHANNEL BEYOND THE FOREMOST VERTICALLY EXTENDING ELEMENT IN SAID SIDE MEMBERS, AND VERTICALLY EXTENDING STOP MEANS AT ONE SIDE OF SAID UNIT ADJACENT THE FORWARD END OF SAID BOTTOM MEMBER. 